Selling Cats as Rabbits - Classic Hispanic Advertising half-truths

"Te vendieron gato por liebre" is the saying in Spanish. "You were sold a cat instead of a rabbit"

At some point in history I'm sure it alluded to a (presumably) common practice at meat markets where you intended to purchase a rabbit for dinner but instead were unwittingly sold a common stray cat that wasn't quick enough to escape the butcher.

Today, it simply means you were conned: you were sold something that looks almost right, but isn't. And in the Hispanic Advertising industry the practice of selling cats is--unfortunately--still somewhat present.

Now, plenty has been written about the cultural myths sold to American companies (Hispanics are conservative, Hispanics only care about the family, etc...), and if you're interested, I highly recommend Arlene Dávilas' Latinos Inc.

But that's not what this post is about.

I'm interested in far more pernicious cats--er, half-truths. Half-truths that lead marketers to invest unwisely. Sometimes they end up sinking too much money in Spanish, sometimes too much in an emerging media, and so on.

So, my advice to marketers: when you hear any of these following phrases, beware! You're most likely looking at a dead cat:

#1
"Hispanic spending power has reached $1 trillion!! Tap into it by advertising in Spanish!!" 
This one, unfortunately, is the most common. It's used quite a bit by some as a way to sell the industry. So, how does it mislead?

Well, yes, Hispanics do spend nearly $1 trillion, but in actuality, only about 1/3 is best reached through Spanish. Here's the math: in one of my previous posts I showed how 'only' 42% of Hispanic adults are best reached in Spanish (which, by the way is nothing to sneeze at). Now, those folks best reached in Spanish have lower incomes than those reached in English ($30k/yr vs $20k/yr, according to the latest Simmons surveys), so....add it all up and here's the real number: $333 billion (again, nothing to sneeze at, but not $1 Trillion).

 In Summary: 

Cat: $1Trillion

Rabbit: $333 Billion

My advice: you should most likely still advertise in Spanish, especially if your category is relevant to the lower acculturation consumer. But allocate dollars wisely. Look at the numbers closely. Advertising in Spanish is NOT the same as advertising to Hispanics.

#2

 "Hispanics overindex in online usage! You absolutely must have a Spanish language digital campaign/website/blog/thingamajiggy!!"

This is a rather new half-truth: yes, some Hispanics do overindex in online usage (this is because they're a heck of a lot younger than the Gen Pop). But many of these digital-saavy Latinos are actually  English Dominant Hispanics. Spanish dominant Hispanics, on the other hand, are still actually severely under-represented online:

And the disparity only widens as you look at online activities. The English Dominant folks are streaming videos, playing online games, blogging, facebooking and well, doing a lot more of practically everything than the Gen Pop. But that's not the case with Spanish Dominant Hispanics online. Read this Pew Hispanic report and check out these indices:

 In Summary: 

Cat: Digital is the Mecca for reaching Hispanics!

Rabbit: Digital is the Mecca for reaching English Dominant Hispanics. And a potentially profitable and viable approach for Span Dom's if done carefully.

My advice: If Hispanics are an opportunity for your brand, absolutely drop everything and go after Eng Dom Hispanics online. It's a no-brainer. If your opportunity is among the lower acculturation groups, proceed with caution. Translating your entire online e-commerce site into Spanish may have a pretty ugly ROI. It unquestionably makes sense for some products/brands, but not for others. 

Overall advice on avoiding dead cats:

Demand accountability from your agency/marketing partners/consultants. Look at the numbers. Parse them and apply sound reasoning skills. Hispanic advertising can be extremely profitable if done correctly (one large client of mine sees a 3x higher ROI from his Spanish spend), or it can be a money pit (said client was initially investing 4X as much as he should have been in Spanish and had a very ugly ROI).

There are some very solid multicultural shops/pros/consultants out there that will guide you well. How can you tell who they are? Just do as you would at the meat market: smell what they're selling. Does it have the faint odor of cat? Or does it smell like a well-fed, soundly reasoned, intelligent and tasty rabbit? mmmm...